Segregation of duties and audit trails

Skills you'll practise

• Identify incompatible duties (authorizing, recording, custody of assets and reconciling) in an access list
• Choose compensating controls when a small team can't fully separate duties
• Describe what an audit trail must show and keep supporting documents linked to entries
• Review change logs and journal listings for red flags such as self-approval, split amounts and out-of-hours changes
• Escalate a control concern through the right channel without accusing anyone

Course outline

1. 1.Segregation of duties and audit trailsVideo · 2 min
2. 2.Incompatible dutiesLesson · 16 min
3. 3.Small teams and compensating controlsLesson · 14 min
4. 4.Audit trails and reviewing themLesson · 18 min
5. 5.Segregation of duties and audit trails: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 15 questions
6. 6.The accountant wants the paperworkScenario
7. 7.Final exam8 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• U.S. GAO: Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (the "Green Book", GAO-14-704G, since superseded by GAO-25-107721). Principle 10, Design Control Activities, covers segregation of duties
• COSO: Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013)
• IRS Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records (US example: single- and double-entry systems, journals and ledgers, supporting documents, how long to keep records)